First its already been stated that many here in the haunt industry are Christians. Second you got to understand that most haunts use scares in a" fantasy" world not the" real world". I attended a Haunt this past year, I want call the name but it was in Tennessee and 10 minutes into the haunt I realized they had an anti Christian agenda. I asked to be shown the nearest exit for myself and crew. I/WE WILL NEVER GO TO IT AGAIN!

God has given us all talents here to use to entertain people. If we do it in a non satanic way I dont feel that he will see anything wrong with it other than you having a good time as something you enjoy. It beats going out and drinking it up. doing drugs, things that I am sure God does not approve of.

Its harmless entertainment for the most part. I can say we get many church groups who attend Graystone Manor. When I first started years ago I actually asked some church preachers to go through my attraction to see if they seen anything that would be considered offensive. I asked them to keep in mind were portraying a "fantasy world" and not a "real case scenarios"

Do whatever makes you happy but personally Haunted Houses and Hell Houses are pretty much alike other than the fact that Haunted Houses repersent "fantasy" and Hell Houses repersent whats to come of future non Christians or those who do not abide by the word of God. Also keep in mind that some religions may find Hell Houses if more offensive than Haunts if they feel your portrayal of Hell is inadequate.

Either way good luck in whatever you so choose and the path you may take! Shane and its Shane THANKS GOD EVERYDAY FOR WHAT HE HAS GIVEN HIM! Shane this time!

Greg and Shane,
Great posts! This is a great topic and I love to see all the posts. Cackles do what feel right to you....unless it involves killing infidels or something. Do not take this the wrong way but your posts are making you sound really young. You have all of the enthusiasm and self doubt associated with youth. That is fine, younger people seem to speak more in permanent terms and do not see the world with as wide of a view as more experienced people. Your life and time is your to do with as you please obsessing over anything is not good.
I really hate the statement you made about "making people accept Jesus any way you can" That is not the way to go deceit and terrorism (the definition is getting someone to do what you want by scaring them) arent (in my mind) good christian approaches. I do not want to MAKE anyone accept god, I want them to choose to love god.
Copy and paste this thread Cackles, open and read it again in ten years, see how your views have changed, then ten years after that.
I wish you the best in whatever you choose and I hope that you make the right choices for yourself.
Allen H

I agree with aforementioned posts in that if you listen to certain music and it MAKES you feel a certain way, it is too late. Music can't MAKE you feel anything. It can be SUGGESTIVE, but it can not do any more to you or for you than what you say your new found beliefs are doing.

secondly, as I disagree with your tactics, I can agree with religious haunts IF and ONLY IF they are done with taste and in a manner that gives you the OPTION...

example --> Two years ago, in the little town of Rock Hill, SC:
I visited, along with my church group, a yearly church event named "HELLoween". Before going to the event, all of our group had preconceived notions and all these ideas that turned out to be false. People were saying we were gonna see live abortions and satin would breath in your ear and all this fiendish stuff. In fact, when we arrived, it wasn't NEARLY as bad. It was done in complete taste and it provided 100% show quality scenes using fog, blacklights, and other haunted attraction quality props and costumes. While they did show us scenes of teen partying, and a little girl who delved in witch craft, we eventually got into a "Hellovator" and descended into "Hell". It was hot and loud and they had all the people from previous scenes thrown into a fogging "pit" of hell by SATAN himself. When I say everything was done well, I mean I felt like I was at disney world. After hell, we went to heaven where they showed the same people being saved and after the show the pastor of the church gave everyone the OPTION to step into a room off to the side and be saved IF and ONLY IF they felt the need.

That is the approach that I believe any other church attempting to do a "scare house" should take.

I have seen some footage of some hell houses, and some are absolutly perfect, while otheres I felt are too "hardcore". granted I am open minded about certain topics, so some christians may not agree with me.

One of the best ones ive seen included a drunk driving scene, where a real car from an actual crash is used to portay teens drinking and driving. there was also some scenes on drug usage, as well as stealing and things.

I have seen others that go too far with their word, and downright pissed me off beyond no extent.

Cackles, that is awesome that you found guidance and a faith to keep you strong. its sometimes hard for me to understand god, but soon after I am able to solve problems with my faith. I hope you do well and that you follow your heart

Did I read this right? Your giving up the haunt business to bring an evil haunted house to a church? Does not sound Christian to me. Theres no place for a haunted house were people are "currently" worshiping. Its my 2 cents. I would never go to it. I think you better speak with God again................

I’m a pretty open-minded person. I believe firmly in ‘to each to their own’. There is room for all points of view and beliefs. And, I usually would shrug off a post like this, but you are painting my business as something evil, so I feel I have to speak my mind.
I’m not 100% sure, but I think that anyone or group that uses fear to sale a political, ideological, or religious point of view is clinically referred to as a WACKADOODLE. I believe that is from the latin “Wackus Doodlis” meaning those who have whacked their doodle once too often.
If you don’t have the facts, deeds, and tenants to sway people over to your way of thinking then maybe..just maybe you might be wrong. Fear is a primitive emotion. It breeds and feeds irrational thought and irrational reactions. Do you really want people believing in god based on irrational thought? I do not believe Jesus would want followers brought unto him under fear. Dictators, despots, and the fear ridden themselves are the ones that use fear to convert. Not a group that I believe Christ would want to count himself a member of
I use fear, like all of us do, in our haunted attractions. Fear is a basic, sometimes very beneficial part of the human make-up. It’s fun to take it out of the old emotional closet and run it around the block a little. Fear helps spark the imagination sometimes and is a great way to blow off steam when followed by laughter. However, when the haunted house closes down and the customers go home the fear valve is turned off, and the only thing the people carry with them is the fun and laughter. When fear is used to sale a series of beliefs, that fear valve is not turned off until the victim summits to the ideology being pushed, and sometimes the fear valve is never turned off again for these people. I believe that is psychological torture.
So, Cackles, from one haunter to a former haunter do me a favor. If you feel the need to psychologically torture people to bring them to god, then please don’t rape our harmless amusement profession to do so. Just get out of the haunting business all together.

How about just water boarding the suckers until they believe in Jesus? Hey...wait a tick...maybe that is where baptism got it's start. So, maybe we should start referring to John the Baptist as John the Water Boarder? I think I'm on to something here. I need to call Dan Brown and Ron Howard. I'm gonna be rich!

Maybe I worded that wrongly. I am not calling anyone here evil. Haunting is a great and fun thing to do, as long as you don't do what I did and let it take over your entire life. Another thing I might have worded wrongly: I do not intend to force people to accept Christ by scaring their pants off, I only want to show them how horrible Hell is, and invoke a desire not to go there themselves for real.

Thank you for your advice, but I think I'm going to go ahead and do it. It feels like that is where God is pulling me. Like I said, I believe that we should use any means to get people to accept Christ as we can, as long as it is morally ethical. This might not be to many people, and I completely understand that. But I have my own beliefs, so please don't criticize me for them.

That's like me saying, "I'm not working at a haunted house, I'm working at a Spook House!"

The ultimate goal of a Judgmenthouse and Hellhouse is one in the same, to convert people to Christianity through use of horrific imagery and scenarios that are very real and often have nothing to do with someone's belief in a god or otherwise.

You're probably going to attack homosexuality too. You will have scenes depicting gay men and women going to hell for no reason other than the fact that they are gay.

I have homosexual actors in my haunt, they are some of my best, are they going to be going to hell?

You're probably going to dress up like a goth kid and represent a Satan worshiper too. You'll being saying almost outright that dressing in black and liking certain music will send you to hell.

You may not have meant it, but you saying that you are quitting haunt work to pursue fundamentalist fundraisers, "because god told you to" is a big slap in the face to every christian on this forum and anyone religious on here for that matter.

Being involved in the haunt industry is a way of life for most of the people on here. Are you going to tell the guys from Unit 70, and Scare Factory that they are not acting godly because they think about the haunt industry too much?

Whoever called your interest in the haunting industry an "addiction" is probably a close mind individual that has no idea why it is you do what you do.

Looking up costumes only shows you have a passion for costumes and costuming, you should pursue it. Any actor or athlete that takes their work seriously reviews video from previous years to better their skill. Nothing you were doing was atypical of someone that loves what they do and wants to improve. Hollywood effects artists look up crime scene photos and horrific images to soak in the detail and try to recreate it in their work, does that make them evil?

I think you have a very poor choice of words when addressing the community at this forum. You need to go join Judgment World forums now and refrain from aligning yourself with this one.

I'll leave you with this piece of legitimate advice, look up the top haunts in the nation and read about their owners and operators. Tell us if you think their "addiction" paid off.

Last edited by EngineerofFear; 06-25-2009 at 11:18 AM.
Reason: typos because the OP is frustrating.

I agree with Allen and anyone else who mentioned that Cackles is young. I also think he is being influenced by those closest to him. In his first post, he says that he just got back from Church Camp and mentions talking to his Youth Leader. I think that reveals a lot about his age. He's likely reaching out for something he wasn't getting from this haunt community and home. I apologize in advance if I'm wrong, but in my experience, that is usually why young people turn to these groups.

Cackles, if you come back, please at least be aware that there's a poll currently taking place here about who's a Christian and who's not:

As you can see, about 75% of those who have responded indicate that they are Christians while the other approximately 25% indicate they are not. That means that if the poll is a good representation of the members here (over 100 members have responded), about 3 out of every group of 4 people here are Christians. I just thought you should know, and I truly wish you only the best!

2,000 or even 200 years ago many Christians worried about having any "Pagan Images" around them.(To be worshipped) Now we have SO MANY images around us on TV. Movies, computer screens, billboards of things we all "worship", new cars, foxy women (who we will never even get to say "Hi!" to, unless we dial 900-something)
Does any preacher live like Jesus? Houses, phones, cars, a positive bank balance , these things are just So Nice (and so tempting! And necesarry to blend in with everyone else.)
Add "Brain-Candy" booze and chemicals that should never be in our bloodstreams and worshiping of the pagan, immeadiate gratification gods runs wild.
So if you obsessed awhile about Halloween costumes...it was such a minor vice, if a vice at all?
When I was about to buy my house a local preacher called me and said he needed to talk with me.
He wanted to warn me against using the evil imagery of the human skull!
"The skull means "Death", "Poison", Satan, Evil....."
I said I thought God made our skulls, it sure helps hold up our faces and keeps us out of the jellyfish family.
Following this logic further, I guess nobody should have studied human anatomy?
Should we all become Christian Scientists and avoid Doctors? (Except for broken bones, I was told, that's OK)
THE absolutely BEST, number one way to influence another person...is by your own excellant positive example.

When my Cousin was a Policeman in Alabama a burglar was arrested and placed in a cell.
Not long afterward a street beggar was put in the adjoining cell.
The burglar informed all within hearing that he was "satan", then began quoting scripture .
About this time the beggar let it be known that he was Jesus, and also began quoting scripture.
My Cousin said it was very interesting and it was quite the debate!
Both sides were effectively silenced by the knock-out dart gun because the other jailer got tired of hearing them ramble on.
My Cousin could have enjoyed listening longer, she said.
Are you the oldest child in your family? Often the first-born has all the rules dumped on them in simple terms of "Black" & "White", "Right" or "Wrong" with no mention of the shaded areas or what to do with them. If only life was so simple.